papua new guinea

A Greenpeace team occupies the Harbour Gemini, carrying illegal timber from Papua New Guinea and bound for China
© Sutton-Hibbert/Greenpeace

As we wait for the European Commission to consider legislation to prevent illegal timber from entering Europe, a Greenpeace team in Papua New Guinea have stepped in to prevent a ship from loading up with wood of dubious provenance.

The ship, Harbour Gemini, was loading timber at Paia Inlet in Gulf Province, when four activists from our ship the Esperanza climbed a loading crane to hang a huge banner reading 'Protect Forests, Save Our Climate'. Looking on were groups of local people in boats, while others held their own peaceful protests at the port and nearby logging camps.

Greenpeace volunteers and Lake Murray clansmen marking out boundaries in 2006

Long-time readers may remember that two years ago a team of Greenpeace campaigners and volunteers arrived at Lake Murray in Papua New Guinea to establish a forest rescue station. They were invited by local clans to help mark out and document the boundaries of their traditional lands, and also to train people in eco-forestry techniques.

Last week, the first fruits of that project were delivered in the form of a shipment of timber from Lake Murray arriving in Sydney. Sep Galeva, a landowner and one of the key players in the eco-timber project, explained to the press how working on this community initiative has helped protect their part of the rainforest from industrial logging.

Not only are homes in the UK gradually becoming greener, their Asian equivalents could also heading in the same direction now that B&Q is removing all products containing illegal timber from their shelves in China.

You couldn't make it up. After having been exposed no less than three times already for using illegal timber in their building projects, Tony Blair's government has done it again.

Yesterday we occupied Admiralty Arch where the government is using illegally logged plywood from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea as hoardings around the building. Fourteen protestors sat on top of the Arch, demanding Tony Blair own up and commit to legislation banning imports of illegal timber into the UK.

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but the government has been caught with illegal timber on one of its own building sites. Sounds familiar? It should, because this is the third time it's happened in four years. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny.

Whatever you may think of his political credentials, as Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has been pushing to make the metropolis a greener city. His plans for a low-energy London have shown just how far behind central government are in terms of planning for a sustainable future, and the Greater London Authority (GLA) ensures that all timber used in their building projects is from sources approved by the Forest Stewardship Council.